CNN 2010-12-24

I mean retail¹ -- well the word retail is always the leading sector² where you can judge a lot of things for how the economy is going. I mean look at what retail was many years ago. Some parts of East Africa are still informal. We -- retail brings a lot of formalization of trade, a lot of formalization of things that you would create. Changing lifestyles is what we are known for. And we have changed the lifestyles of many by bringing products from all over the world and giving them an experience which is new.So they say why can't we do what they're doing in developed worlds?

Why did you think that a -- a supermarket idea or like a -- a mega market, as it were, would work in East Africa?

I mean Kenya, whenever we looked at it, there was a lot of opportunities around. A lot of Kenyans would travel abroad and bring their meats from either Dubai or London or wherever they would be traveling. And a lot of them had not the opportunity to travel.So we said there is a market. There is the money around. There is the knowledge of people here that a lot of products are available out -- outside there and they want the products here.

And there -- there's a lot of talk of Walmart buying all or parts of -- of Massmart in Southern Africa.Do you think this will bring in -- do you think a big U.S. company coming in will bring in more competition for you in East Africa?

Definitely³. I mean a U.S. giant player like Walmart, the world's number one player, coming into Africa, means competition. But it also means that there is a lot of confidence for the market out there in Africa, that there is a market in Africa. They would otherwise not be interested in coming here.So it leaves us a lot of food for thought for us to start expanding very fast. And there is that market and take care of that market, let the other players come in, but still try to do what you can best.

Does it keep you up at night, thinking that Walmart is coming into the market?

It actually encourages me to say we are in a store -- in -- in Africa, where Walmart also is thinking of coming. So from day one here, we have the right choice of being where we want.

What -- what benefit can Walmart bring in?You know, they -- they are so well known as sourcing cheap products, particularly from Asia.I mean, do you think that will, in general, be a struggle for, you know, Nakumatt, Shop-Rite (ph), these -- these companies -- to -- to compete with that sort of business model?

Definitely. Their buying volumes do -- would make a difference. But would we still look at that kind of product or what would be the Walmart approach?Would it be that they want to get it for the mass market at very cheap products?Or would it be that they want to look at the middle plus class?So I think I still -- we would still have an upper edge.

So when you go to Rwanda or Uganda and you see -- you visit your stores, I mean what do you feel like?What sort of emotion do you have given where you -- you know where your company has come from in this relatively⁴ short period.I mean for me, it's always the question, what's next?What can I introduce as the next product to make it more exciting and more interesting?Every time I visit a store, which I try to do at least to visit every Nakumatt store at least once a month, out of the country, and once a week inside the country, most probably, and try to do something new, something exciting, something different.

So there's always the challenge of keeping up with excitement. So whatever we have done so far, you will see we are steps ahead than many of the stores, if you compare us with Walmart stores layout⁵ and us, maybe I would be proud to even say with a little step higher than them.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 layout   

n.布局，安排，设计

参考例句：

• The robbers studied the layout of the bank.这伙强盗研究了银行的布局。
• This map shows the layout of the plant.这张图展示了工厂的布局。